The present invention relates to an electrical connector for connection to a microcircuit card, of a type which has a lower face with contact pads thereon. The connector has contact elements with upwardly projecting contact blades that engage the pads on the lower face of the card when the card is fully inserted into a read/write device in which the connector is mounted. It is necessary to determine when the card has been fully inserted, and for the card contact pads to be engaged with the contact blades at that time. One prior type of connector has a case that forms a card receiving slot, that holds card-engaging contacts, and that holds a switch actuator that is deflected by the front edge of a card. That construction necessitates producing a specific complete case with built in connector and actuator for each application. Another prior connector has an electrical connector device of small size, and a separate switch, each of which is mounted on a circuit board in a case. That design gives rise to the possibility that the contacts of the connector device and the full-insertion detecting switch will not be precisely positioned relative to each other, so the contacts will not all engage the card pads when the switch detects full insertion.
Prior actuators for detecting the full insertion of a card have generally included a resilient blade that is deflected against a contact. The blades generally press upwardly with substantial force against the front of the card, which tends to lift the card.